Charging new batteries

[95Prober 10+ year member]

Hi

I have a brand new Optima yellow top and an HC2400.

They have been sitting in my closet for 1.5 years. I ordered them

while I was away from home working. Just wondering, should I trickle charge them first before installing them in the car, or can I just install them even with low power and let the car charge it as its running?

I plan on using the Optima under the hood and the HC2400 in the trunk

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[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Charge them up first. Overnight on 2A would be good.

 

[x2o 10+ year member]

Hook up the DMM to see what they are resting at first. 18 months is a good bit of time to just have a battery sit. I'd definitely recommend a nice slow charge though to get them up again if they are really low.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

It will take a week or more to charge an HC2400 with a trickle charger, if you ever could really get a full charge on it. You more than likely would only get a surface charge on a big battery like that.

Step 1) Check the voltage of the batteries with a DMM. If above 12.6v, no need to charge.

Step 2) If below 12.6v then take them to Autozone or a similar autoparts store and ask them to charge them for you. It should be free and should take about an hour or two.

Step 3) If you ever put them in storage like that again, make sure they ahve a full charge first and put the trickle charger on them while they are stored. That will keep them fully charged until you use them again.